"A Man Feeding Swans in the Snow" by Marcin Ryczek

Polish photographer Marcin Ryczek snapped this once-in-a-lifetime photograph of a man feeding swans and ducks from a snowy river bank in Krakow. The trifecta juxtaposition between black/white, water/snow, and person/animals is simply astounding.

His photos have been published in the press and other media around the world, among others: The Guardian, Der Spiegel, Yedioth Ahronoth, La Repubblica, Politiken, The Daily Telegraph, National Geographic ... and the most popular social networks in many countries on all continents.

Ryczek shot in colour, converting it to black and white in his studio. He then posted the image on a Facebook page of urban photographs called Unknown Krakow (Nieznany Kraków) and it started to attract attention. More Facebook pages, tweets and a host of photo blog mentions later, and the shot has gone viral, and has since had millions of views worldwide.

"A Man Feeding Swans in the Snow" in just in one day hit 3,000,000 views on American website "Reddit", with very positive, sometimes even enthusiastic comments.

I specialize in photography, which refers to symbols and geometry. Its characteristic features are simplicity, minimalism and reference to graphic arts. Symbols and geometric shapes impart philosophical matter to these images, they raise questions and provide deeper reflection. The most important entity which connects all my works is a man, with their “multidimensionality” accented by the use of simple symbols and thoughtful composition.